Well, not quite here – officially (and actually) I started on Monday the 16th of June when I returned from my holiday (which I shall also be posting about shortly). Two years + of takeaways and meals out have taken their toll on my waistline, and I know I would have gained on holiday as I ate indiscriminately (and plentifully) – as most of us do on holiday I think.

I’ve had limited success with weight loss since (and a little before) being diagnosed with my personal plethora of health problems, most of which mean I am pretty sedentary, though this is not through choice. I really realised something was wrong

around 7 years ago when I was training for a marathon, and was the personal embodiment of being curvy and very fit. I hurt my knee pretty badly, and upon entering the medical world for something more than just pain medication, I started to find out some of the ‘what’s’ of what was going in with my body and put names to things, rather than just knowing I was in incredible pain and tired all the time.

Enter Lighter Life Fast. Having not lived under a rock for the last year, I had heard of the 5:2 diet, but was under the misapprehension that you weren’t meant to eat at all on ‘fast’ days. Having had much experience with not eating (for one reason or another) and not losing any weight (or indeed gaining) I knew that now eating wasn’t something I wanted to factor into a healthy eating plan. As part of lighter life fast, your fast days are made up of weighed and measured, calorie counted foods that together give you all the nutrition you need for the day while keeping you on a calorie controlled diet for those two days.

So for five days I am eating well, watching my carbs and eating lots of fruit, veg and lean meat. For two days I’m feasting on bars, shakes and meals, and feasting really is the word. The bars are dense and yummy, as well as filling. They actually feel like a treat that you shouldn’t be eating at all which adds to their appeal. The shakes are scrummy to. I am less keen on the main meals, but it’s great to get some savoury variety in there, and it gives the feeling of eating ‘a proper dinner’. It is so far from my perceptions of what a fasting day would be like and I’ve not felt at all deprived.

So what have you got to lose?

Quite a bit actually (badumbum!) I have a 3 stone weight loss to get to my goal (and what I weighed before I met J). As this is for my health and not purely aesthetic it is really important to me, and I am giving this opportunity everything I have to give. So, on my first week (16th-22nd June) I had a very early dieting lesson in dealing with disappointment. Just as we are thrilled when we lose and thought we were going to gain, gaining when we thought we were going to lose is a big surprise – and not a good one. These are also the weeks we remember and can lead us to throw in the towel. So when the scales flashed a 2lb weight gain for my first week, I felt pretty disappointed. Being a seasoned (and very successful in the past) dieter however, I know which questions to ask myself before deciding how I was going to feel about this.

1. Have you stuck to a healthy eating plan and/or specific diet rigidly?

The answer was yes

2. Are you pre-menstral?

YES!!! This was it!

I did a straw poll on facebook and every single woman that replied routinely gained between 2lb and 8lb before their period. I remembered this was true of myself. As my answer to the first question was yes (I didn’t even eat pastries and drink wine and Britmums Live!) I knew the second was to blame.

So my weight loss post next week will be more positive (ie. it will be in the negative), and having introduced you guys to my weight loss journey, I can talk more on how the week itself actually went.

If you’d like to try Lighterlife Fast you can visit their website here for more information, and the Superdrug website to purchase products for the plan.

I've just started this week with the 5:2 diet. Following the book though, and I have to say I rather love it. Knowing that it's just two days and not even back to back that you have only 500 calories, is the beauty of this plan. I found also that even though I was dreaming of all the food I would be eating the next morning, I didn't go for the big scoff, but opted for something light. I have lost 4 lbs so it will be great to see if this continues.

All the best with your plan too, I look forward to hearing about your progress x

Thanks for this, made me realise there are other ways of dieting than the usual horrid way of cutting everything out all the time! I will keep checking back to see hwo you are doing if that's okay as I have a year until I'm a maid of honour and would love to shift a few lbs if not stone before then- may give this a go! 🙂